


you left...but now you're back

by geckointhegarbage



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Getting Together, Kissing, M/M, Making Up, just good stuff ya know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-13
Updated: 2018-09-13
Packaged: 2019-07-11 17:12:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15976787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geckointhegarbage/pseuds/geckointhegarbage
Summary: "It's okay," Keith assures him. He hesitantly takes one of Lance's hands, and intertwines their fingers. "Can I ask, do you still like me?"Lance chuckles, rubbing his thumb over one of Keith's knuckles. "How could I not?"





	you left...but now you're back

"Lance, listen-"

"No!" Lance screams. "No, I won't listen! You've had enough time to talk to me and didn't do it. I'm not giving you any more." 

Lance walks tensely out of the conference room, leaving Keith frozen, his arms still open. Shiro, Pidge, Hunk, Allura, and Romelle stand back, shocked at Lance's sudden outburst. They had been talking about their next move against the Galra Empire when Keith had suggested that they take a step back for a moment and care for the aliens on neighboring planets. Lance snapped, claiming that Keith was willing to leave Earth "just like you left m-us!" Keith had tried to reason with him when Lance's chair skidded back, and he left the room. 

Keith watches as the door gently slides closed, and the team looks back at him expectantly. "Well?" says Allura, shrugging her shoulders. "Are you going to get him or not?" 

Keith raises his eyebrows, surprised. "Get him? Why? He's pissed, I'm just gonna leave him." 

The whole room is filled with groans from the team, Pidge and Hunk burying their faces in their hands, and Shiro pressing his fingers onto the sides of his nose. "Keith," Shiro stands up, "I don't know what brought on that outburst from Lance, but I know for sure it's something you did. You need to go talk to him." 

"Now?"

"Yes now! The sooner you two hash this out the sooner we can come to a decision about something." 

Keith glances around the room, reading the faces of his other teammates. With every pair of eyes he makes contact with, the person they belong to nods in agreement. He sighs, and starts walking the the same direction Lance did. The doors glide open and let him through. He looks back at his team, and Romelle shoots him a thumbs up as the doors close.  _Now to find him._

Keith assumes that he would go to his room, as that was the only spot he could think of. Heading down the right hallway of the Garrison, he makes a left before being greeted by another pair of doors. They let him through, and he finds a row of identical metal doors, each marked by a number. Lance's was number 16. Keith swivels his head back and forth as he walks, searching for the numbers etched into a bronze plate. 

Finally, he finds it, towards the middle of the hall. He lifts his hand to knock on the door when he hesitates. _Was this really the best idea? Lance seemed pretty mad..._ But now it's too late for second thoughts, as his knuckles rap three times on the thick doors. Keith sucks in a breath as he waits for them to let him in. After counting to ten, they don't, and Keith almost sighs in relief. He turns to go tell the others he can't find Lance when he hears the tell tale  _whoosh_ of the doors opening. He turns around to find Lance, now in his baseball shirt and sweatpants. His hair is messy, like he was lying in bed, his face slightly red and blotchy. He's been crying. 

"Lance...?" Keith asks, unsure of where to go from here. "Can we talk?" 

"I would prefer we don't," Lance replies, his voice raspy. 

"Please? I just...I want to explain myself." 

Lance considers it for a moment, then steps aside with a sniffle to let Keith in. The doors slide behind him. Keith takes a look around the room. It was exactly as he thought it would be: pictures taking as much wall space as possible, stuffed animals and random socks strewn across the floor, and an unmade bed. 

"Sorry for the mess," Lance mumbles, walking up from behind Keith. He pushes the comforter of his bed back a little before sitting down, looking back at Keith. Keith takes a seat next to him, feeling awkward. He was in Lance's space, a place he didn't know how to navigate. At least not anymore. 

"You wanted to talk," Lance says, looking down at his hands. "So talk." 

Keith clears his throat. "I just wanted to see if you were alright, you know, after the whole-" he waves his hands "-thing at the meeting." 

"'m fine," Lance chokes, rubbing his eyes with his hands. "That it?" 

"No," Keith shifts his body so he's facing Lance. "Why did you react like that?" 

Lance visibly tenses, knitting his eyebrows together. "Because...because I think Earth needs us right now." 

"There's another reason too, isn't there?" 

Lance licks his lips. "Yeah," he whispers after a moment of silence. Keith waits for him to elaborate, but he doesn't. Lance starts to pick at his fingernails. 

"Can you tell me what that is?"

"No." 

Keith sighs, and awkwardly places a hand on Lance's shoulder. Lance shudders. "Lance, please. If you don't tell me, I can't help you." 

Lance thinks about it for a moment. He runs his hands through his hair, and holds his head in place as he softly says, "You left."

Keith blinks, not sure if he heard him right. "Could you say that again?"

"You left," he repeated, even softer than before. 

"Oh," Keith exhales. 

"Yeah," a blue eye peaks out from behind Lance's hands. "I'm just-I'm a little hung up on that, okay?" Lance sits up. "Like who just gets up and leaves like that? So suddenly? For so long? We  _needed you._ Lotor was coming after us, and we were down a team member, down a black paladin." A tear slipped out of Lance's eye. "I missed you, Keith. I missed you so damn much. You know I would wake up in the morning and tell myself 'Today's the day, Keith's going to be back' and how many times I was wrong? You leaving, then coming back with your mom, an Altean, and a space dog, it was like we weren't even part of your family anymore. We didn't matter.

"Even worse, you wouldn't even  _talk_ to me. I don't hate you that much anymore, you know. In fact, I never hated you. I lo-," Lance cuts himself off, tears streaming down his face. He brings his voice down, not noticing he'd been yelling until now. "I loved you, Keith. And you broke my heart." 

Keith swallows thickly. His eyes were dampening. "Lance...," he trails off, trying to think of something that would be an adequate response to what was just spilled in front of him. "Lance I'm so sorry," was the best he could come up with. Lamely, he wrapped his arms around Lance, pressing Lance's head into his chest. "I had no idea." 

Sobs rack Lance's body, and he clings to Keith like his life depends on it (and in a way, it does). Lance buries himself into Keith's arms, trying to listen to the steady beat of his heart to calm himself down. Keith holds Lance tightly against him for a long time, carefully running his fingers through Lance's hair and up and down his back to soothe him. Slowly, Lance pulls himself together, and untangles himself from Keith. 

He sniffles a few times, and rubs the remaining tears from his eyes. "Sorry," he mumbles, eyeing the wet spot near Keith's shoulder. 

"It's okay," Keith assures him. He hesitantly takes one of Lance's hands, and intertwines their fingers. "Can I ask, do you still like me?" 

Lance chuckles, rubbing his thumb over one of Keith's knuckles. "How could I not?" 

Keith grins. "Would you be open to going on a date with me?" 

Lance looks at him for a moment, then straight up  _laughs._ Keith watches him, puzzled. "What? Did I say something?" 

"You still want a date," Lance pauses for air, "After  _that?!_ " 

Keith moves a thin strand of hair from Lance's face, and tucks it behind his ear. "How could I not?" 

Lance flushes bright red, and now it's Keith's turn to laugh. His face scrunches up, and his smile is radiant. Lance can feel his heart beating much faster than it was three seconds ago. 

When Keith makes eye contact with him again, Lance has the softest, most loving expression on his face. Keith swears he has an aneurysm right then and there. But Lance recalls him asking, "Can I kiss you?" 

Lance smiles. "When I look like this?" 

Keith nods, inching closer. "Yes." 

Lance leans in, and Keith's lips are on his. Gently, at first, like he has just come to the realization that  _oh my god I just asked Lance if I could kiss him,_ then once his brain had processed the fact, he kisses him with more certainty. Lance's lips are soft, and his breath is soft on Keith's skin. He loves it. Slowly, he starts inching on top of Lance, forcing the other to lean back, until he's lying down on the bed with Keith kissing Lance just like he wished he had months-no  _years-_ earlier. Lance wraps his arms around Keith's neck, pulling him as close to his body as he could. Keith's hands drift to Lance's waist, his thumb running over an exposed strip of skin. 

At some point, Lance wraps his legs around Keith's middle, pulling his full weight on top of him. Lance doesn't mind one bit, and continues to kiss Keith as hard as he could to make up for his outburst earlier. It's an apology, if you will. 

"So," Keith tries to speak between kisses, "I guess we're dating then?" 

Lance hums in response before he starts kissing down Keith's neck. "I'll take that as a yes." 

The rest of the team spends about half an hour waiting for the two of them before adjourning the meeting and going anywhere  _but_ the dorms. 

**Author's Note:**

> a lil drabble i had to get out of my system  
> it takes place after they are let out of the hospital post season 7!
> 
> scream at me on tumblr: geckointhegarbage.tumblr.com
> 
> art tumblr: 88-20.tumblr.com


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